Introducing Toronto Music Experience, a plan to celebrate the city’s iconic history
For the longest time, Canadians did a lousy job of documenting our musical history, largely because before 1970, there wasn’t a lot to document. That, happily, has changed over the decades with books, installations, documentaries, celebrations, and museums dedicated to our musical heritage. And another one is on the horizon.
Toronto Music Experience is a planned destination–a museum, of sorts–that will commemorate and celebrate Toronto’s contributions to Canada’s (and the world’s) music scenes. I quote from the press release:
“TME will take a storytelling-driven approach to explore Toronto’s musical past, present, and future through immersive exhibits, pop-up activations, live performances, and education initiatives. From the Indigenous peoples who first made music on this land, to the musical legacy of the Underground Railroad, Yorkville’s folk scene, Michie Mee’s pioneering hip hop, and global icons like Drake, The Weeknd, Gordon Lightfoot, and Rush – TME will spotlight the artists and movements that shaped the city’s music scene, celebrating the diversity that makes Toronto a cultural powerhouse.
“While music education will be a core tenet of TME, the experience will be immersive and interactive and display instruments, lyrics, costumes and rare artifacts from Toronto artists and the city’s live music scene, and it won’t stop there. TME will include multi-use performance and production spaces for artists at all stages of their careers, retail and café spaces that double as creative hubs, and ongoing educational programming designed to foster appreciation and access to music for everyone. It will also house a rotating calendar of temporary exhibitions, developed in partnership with other leading music institutions in Canada and beyond.”
Cool, no? Alex Lifeson, Jully Black, Tom Wilson, Bob Ezrin, Molly Johnson, Murray McLauchlan, and others (about 250!) are lending support to the project.
Where will it be located? Unclear, because this is a long-term (about five years right now) project that begins with fundraising. The Lewitt Family Foundation already dropped in $100,000, which gave things a great start.
For more information, go here.
